Strata #3 consist in a film, site-specific installation and series of prints focusing on neoclassical Grand Theatre of Bordeaux.
“Strata” series
“Strata” is an ongoing project started in 2007, combining a series of films, prints and site-specific installations.
The term “strata” defines a geological formation constructed of multiple layers of rock. It refers specifically to the idea of relative time, whereby each layer is differentiated from the next through its definite characteristics, its porosity, its texture, its colour and composition… In short, it defines a manner of identifying breaks within the organic evolution; a visual metaphor for a history composed not so much as a linear process but as an accumulation of significance over time: what is known in geology as deep time.
It is within the exploration of this “depth” that the project “Strata” takes form, toying with the construction and deconstruction of our solidified perception of classical art, architecture and iconography.
Operating within the landscape of classical aesthetics; the geometric perfection which lies behind the figuration of the Renaissance, the opulence of the Baroque, or the rigour and integrity of Gothic architecture, “Strata” strives to reach and unveil what lies beneath the figurative complexity of each icon and structure.
It delves under the surface of the image, de-constructing it, reducing it to its essential co-ordinates, colours, geometries; stripping it of its symbolic function.
Yet, through this very process “Strata” also constructs. It generates topographic maps, linear pathways and structures which pulsate, scatter, hang suspended diverging from the origin to the point of another origination; the production of a living abstract landscape.
Through this metamorphic process, “Strata” not only aims at altering one’s perception of the iconic symbolism contained within the architectures but renews an interest in the calculative, generative and arithmetical qualities that lie dormant behind the details of a masterpiece.
Quayola 2009
Audiovisual installation
1ch HD projection | 2ch sound
Duration: 07:00 loop
Additional credits
Sound: Plaid
Photography: James Medcraft
3D Animation: Robin Lawrie
Custom software: Mauritius Seeger
Assistants: Kieran Gee-Finch, Colin Johnson
Commissioned by Evento and Lumin for the Bordeaux Art & Architecture Biennale.
Technical specifications
Bio and agenda